Ad-Free Android

by Chris Moor
tagged adfree, No ads, one-click

AdFree Android is a simple application that allows you to block all ads on your device, whether they be on another application, or in your internet browser. The application is fairly simple to set up, because on most devices, only one click is needed to set up an ad free mobile world. However, some devices like the Droid Incredible, require a little extra work. I myself own the Droid Incredible, and because I have NAND unlocked, I didn’t have to do anything extra to set up the app. Scan the QR code after the break to start an ad free life.

[via Lifehacker]

» See more articles by Chris Moor

Categorized as Android Applications

Comments

Eric

It’s irresponsible for a “supporter” of the Android platform to promote an app like this. Without ad revenues, the android market won’t survive.
Amanj

I truly agree, with Eric, I think an application like this should not be in the market at all
Saad

At least its for rooted phones only right now….
BigOldBear

It should be mentioned that one needs a “Rooted Phone” for this app.
I believe this may have been omitted simply because the Writers and those “in the know”, (those who know MUCH more than me, have their phones rooted.
Comes a time to say “THANK YOU” to all those experts “in the know”.
THANK YOU – very MUCH
g

Agree with Eric and the others. If you really don’t want ads on apps, buy a pro version or don’t use said apps. As the author to make a pro version if one doesn’t exist.

The only ads I’d agree to block are the ones on websites which cause popups or spew sound (because they’re extremely invasive and annoying). Luckily I haven’t run across any of those on mobile yet, even with Flash enabled. Otherwise, I’m happy to view ads to help the authors make a little cash back from my usage of their content and bandwidth.

Please, don’t be freeloaders.
Bryan

i agree, so many of the great programs on Android are ad based. Never before have I contemplated a removal of an app, but this one a hardly hardly agree should be done away with. Nothing good will come from this app. Support the devs that spend their time/money, etc bringing quality apps to you.
http://xcmeathead.com Rich

Completely agree. It’s already almost impossible for Android Devs to make any real money, without people chucking in additional problems like this. Hopefully Google will decide it’s against their terms of service or something and remove it.

Luckily this sort of thing is generally only used by those who would probably never click the ads anyway.
curse

If you really don’t want adds in a program, turn off internet.
I got the low res HTC Tattoo, there is a solitair game I often play, when the adds comes, it covers a 3d of the screen. I usually click the add and then turn off the game, turn off Internet with APNdroid and restart the game add free. And still support the coder
http://aasdad JohnDeveloper

I thought TalkAndroid liked to promote Android developers? Oh well…now i know better.
http://www.hughbriss.com Hugh Briss

Why in the world would a website that relies on ad revenue even consider promoting a piece of crap like this? I bet you guys just love it when you hear about people downloading browser apps that remove the ads on your website don’t you?
http://www.hughbriss.com Hugh Briss

BTW, it’s AdFree Android. Add is a completely different word and is not short for advertising.
Droidfan

Well, there are paid apps…
Scott Young

@Hugh thanks for pointing that out. I know that, you know that, and everyone else knows that… but apparently Mike didn’t /facepalm
autobot

This application is fine, app developers make about 12 USD a week if their app is EXTREMELY popular. Learn more about AdSense before whining this app is taking money from the developers…..everyone I know will not run an ad supported android app…we purchase to rid ourselves of the ads.

I use this to block ads on pages that I view on my PC while tethering….didn’t think about that did you.

Ad

a moderately popular app makes 200$ a day. You have no idea what you’re talking about.

djgdroid

I don’t see the adds as a big problem and it supports developers.
autobot

Purchasing supports the developers, AdSense may pay for a meal once a month if your lucky.

Ask a well known developer, I know what I’m talking about.

I am not saying use this app to rip off developers, I’m saying the app has a use and I appreciate having the ability to make my browsing session safe and quick.
Eric

@autobot: so it’s ok to steal from developers because they don’t make much to begin with?

Great logic! You know game developers like ea lose millions of dollars each year?..I guess we could all start stealing their games now and have justification for it.awesome!

Grow up and get a life.you’re pathetic if you can’t afford a couple bucks for an ad free version of an app you use frequently. In fact..why do you even have a smart phone if you can’t afford two or three bucks for software?
Stuart

I find ads intrusive. I don’t want them and I never click/buy from then. So this is a win/win app. I don’t get ads and nobody loses any revenue. Nobody is unhappy, some are happy.

As most people (at least in the UK judging from the choice of ad free TV over ad TV) prefer no ads then it is serving a market.

Oh and I use Adwords to promote my products. But I have no problem, indeed it is a benefit if my ads are not seen by people who don’t want to see them.

Why do many of the above want to insist on annoying people with unwanted ads?
ari-free

Google needs to learn from facebook. What do they have on the side? Recommended pages that lets you ‘like’ what appeals to you and x out the ones that don’t. Lots of people actually have fun with that thing.

If we could ‘like’/'unlike’ google ads, we’d have something that appeals to us instead of something like this gmail ad I just got: “Fast, Easy, Construction Estimates 14 Day Free Trial! Plus Training”
autobot

@eric

I purchase android applications that can be purchased, I donate if this is the method by which developers get paid…such as wifi tether.

Only a child personally attacks another when they disagree, perhaps its you that should grow up.

Once again…I DON’T USE APPS WITH ADS.

I have paid for about five android apps and donated to two others, what about you…
Milind Rao

I love this app. I hate intrusive ads. I never turn off any Google ads because they are un-intrusive and actually helpful. On a small device with real estate issues and slow network issues, downloading ads is like rubbing salt in the wound. There are apps which deliberately or otherwise, place ads next to buttons. Instead of clicking on a button, I have occasionally clicked on ads. I’d love to have something like AdBlock Plus that would conditionally allow ads for some apps, but until there is one, I have to use the brute force hosts file approach to get rid of apps from the browser and the apps.

As others have pointed out, where I have found the need, I have purchased or donated for apps and ROMs.

All of you on your high and mighty moral horses, feel free to not use it.
Ian

Installed. Tired of the ad frames of some websites. Needs a way to choose what apps can be adblocked, in my case only the ads in the browser annoys me.

Market needs to change add supported apps description to “adware”, so people can search for ad-free apps only if they want.
Kevin Zaleski

Why would it make any sense to install yet another resource-deteriorating app that erodes performance for so little tangible purpose?
Some Bloke

agree with Ian above. If ads were labelled paid, free or adware, then we could easily choose what it is we are after. Many times I have downloaded an app, to find that it uses up expensive bandwidth advertising stuff I will never use.

Kudos to those nice people who make apps for fun and distribute them free!

I look forward to a version for non-rooted phones.
Bryon Howley

One of the best app’ I have found for my Dell Streak! I do not allow ad’s running on any computer I have and that includes my Streak.
Zach Wilson

Stuart Says:
August 14th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
“I find ads intrusive. I don’t want them and I never click/buy from then. So this is a win/win app. I don’t get ads and nobody loses any revenue. Nobody is unhappy, some are happy.”

I couldn’t agree more. I never click on ads. Also, I’m not annoyed by them enough to purchase all the ad-free versions of apps I use. The developers really have nothing to lose from me using this app.
Hans

I think it is very naive to say that people should not block ads.
I am the user and I find ads irritating and I will NEVER click ANY of them. I rather go around it and type the URL manually.
If an application is in my possession, I can do anything I want with it and that includes altering the code.
jorge

Apps like this can kill free apps, which is the base of Android Market. If you use a free app with ads, then your accepting its terms. Seeing ads is your payment. If you don’t agree those terms, just uninstall it!

To let ad-supported apps survive, developers will have to implement “anti ad-bloking” systems. It wouldn’t be hard. Just try to open a connection to Adsense/Admob/Whatever and, if it fails, show a message and abort app.

If apps like this gain popularity, I will surly develop such a system and distribute it for free. I hope several people do the same.

I have just flagged “AdFree” as INAPPROPRIATE in the Market. I think we all should do it, so Android/Google does anything about it.
joachim2607@gmail.com

I think they should make it show up with xperia x10 mini in the market. It is working great on these devices but it does not show up because of the resolution.
http://www.cafepress.com/freespeecharea AAAAANDRE

Why all the hate here?
I paid $300+ for my phone + $60-80 month for service and I gotta look at crap ads all day?
Android is based on Linux, Open Source FREE Software where people code for the fun/prestige/challenge/their own needs/and to support the “community”. When I started seeing the popup ads I thought WTF? And went looking for how to turn them off. If I am looking for something to buy, I’m a big boy and can use google and find it myself. I don’t need a bunch of adparazzis hounding me all day.
jorge

AAAAANDRE, I see you don’t understand what we’re talking about. Let me help you.

There are a few types of apps, among them:
- Paid apps. You pay once and you can use it in your device
- Free apps. Like you said, prestige is enough for the developer
- Adware apps. Developer does not want to work for free. He gives his apps for free and they show ads. When you click an ad, developer gets a few cents from advertiser.

When you install an app, you accept the terms of use of that app. If you install a paid app, then you must PAY for it, you can’t just steal it. The same way, if you install an adware app, you must see ads. You can use that app only under that condition. If you agree, use it. Otherwise, just remove that app and you’ll stop viewing its ads. If you decide to use it, then you must see those ads. Otherwise it would be thief too. You paid $300 for the hardware, not for the right to steal apps or any other software. Besides that, developers of adware apps did not receive a cent of those $300.

—
If you’re seeing ads outside an adware app, then you do have a problem. Maybe a trojan or other malware. But we’re not talking about that in here.
eVo Guy

if you want money….get a real job….but as long as u make products (i.e, music, movies, apps) that can be digitaly alterd, you have to accept the fact the some ppl will go the extra mile to get it free, bootlegged, or ad-free (in this case)

Ad

Yeah i’m an android developper and i completely disagree. Creating an app costs money, servers, and thousands of hours. You want this for free in the name of principles, but you would never agree to work for free yourself. That’s very dishonest.

Then you would argue that you are stronger than me because you have an ad blocker and i can’t help it. LMAO I have an ad-blocker-blocker in my app which matches 100% of the ad blockers in 5 lines of code.

If there are ads in an app, you have the right not to use it, or view the ads. No more. You don’t decide how to use what you doesn’t belong to you.

jorge

@eVo Yes, I know some people steal. I totally agree, that’s a fact everywhere, not only in music, movies and apps. But at least they shouldn’t say it’s ok to do it :/ And Web pages like talkandroid.com shouldn’t promote it, IMHO.
Arji

I’m doing computer science at university, and we get taught marketing applications not just making them. and believe me people dont click on ads. most of them just misclick it. if you really think developers are earning from this then you’re outright fooled.
It’s a marekting strategy where the developer loses heavier. they only get paid when the ad is clicked but the ad has already achieved its goal by just you looking at it. In the end, the dev already loses from this.
An app like any other software would not be sold if not properly marketed. If it’s unable to compete then clearly theres a flaw to it. Free market means you can sell any application that you deem a profitable market niche. if the market cannot adapt then clearly theres a problem with that market
stefan

Awesome. I really dont understand why so many thinks its ok to throw up adware on android market and call it freeware. Better only sell the app then. I will use this to f*** them. %”#%#”

/Android developer
Jeremy

Really, so let me get this straight, some of you are running rooted phones, so you can control what goes on them, and you complain because someone creates an app that removes the ads on web pages cause now you developers don’t make money. Forgive me for thinking there was a reason we have a FREE community. It’s a little disappointing that your secretly out for money.. and not the people. Sounds to me like you forgot the purpose of the GNU altogether. Love the app.. and just so you all know.. if you are a person who roots their phone, maximizes its uses.. I can almost guarantee that you NOT someone who clicks on useless ads anyway.. that’s for the general public and for those that don’t know any better so stop whining.
Mike

Without apps the phone is just a brick. Sooner rather than later you will have no apps to block the ads in. Buy some nails so your phones have a purpose.
I develop apps for a living, not for some f**kers joy.
droid-dumb

admob keep displaying adult content ads making playing angry birds with my kids an awkward moment

say yes to adfree
http://www.NerdyJustin.com Nerdy Justin

I love this. Not like many of us will ever bother to click on the annoying ads anyway. Just an eyesore really. Very thankful for this app.
Brian

All I here are a bunch of little wanna be app developers whining to each other. Try going out and getting a real job instead of sitting at home playing with your phone. Ads are not required to make money. You’re just being greedy. I have this app and use this app. Down with droid nerd that wants money for nothing.
With

I pay a lot for my bandwidth cap and as such have only 300Mb to get through the month. No adds means more data available to use, Don’t think the adds use a lot but none the less …I WILL USE THIS APP ..THANK YOU !
world leader

First there was the open-source world,, now we have a Linux phone called Android with “developers” and “users” that think that Ads are ok. But they are not ok. Spamers. A lot of apps on the market don’t tell you before downloading, that they come with ads, and i myself just want two sorts of apps: open-source or payed closed source. The rest can go to digital nirvana. Really, a banner telling me to buy a ticket to habanna while i’m shooting a photo, who needs this s***?
THANKS for this app! will use this on all spam-ad-apps that do not warn me beforehand.
iuzers

linux is free and ADs free, why YOU, linux android user have to see this ADs?
insert an option in the .APK program for turn off this crapping ADs!
Boborex

Say, if the app i want doesn’t have a paid pro version, how could i get rid of some really annoying ads?

If all brilliant apps got paid versions, we might choose the paid version to use it and support the authors. Or, this method-to remove ads-might be an option…

:/
Different Point of View

I look at things a little differently.

[ getting on my soapbox ]

If app developers want to avoid the loss of revenue that comes from ad-blocking software, they can offer a for-pay version of the app in addition to the adware version.

It is not my responsibility to support lazy developers who don’t bother to write two versions of their apps (an adware version and a for-pay ad-free version).

I have written apps, myself, and I know that it does not take very much extra work to offer these two app versions.

When there are two such versions of an app, I _always_ pay for the ad-free version, and I will normally only use such software. However, there have been rare cases where a developer discontinued a for-pay version in favor of a piece of adware. In these instances I have protested to the developer, but if he/she refused to reinstate the for-pay, ad-free version in addition to the new adware version, I have occasionally kept the app and utilized an ad blocker.

In general, I consider mobile phone ads to be a scourge upon mankind, and I _always_ want to pay for ad-free apps. As long as there are developers who share or at least tolerate my values about this (which are shared by thousands, if not millions of other people), then I will continue to use and purchase apps on my mobile device.

Yeah, I know — my position is unpopular here. However, people like me who _want_ to pay for all apps and who hate the ads will not go away.

[ stepping off soapbox ]
Different Point of View

PS: I want to add that I believe that the lowest-of-the-lowest scum of the earth among app developers are those who offer for-pay apps which also show ads which cannot be turned off.

These people have the option of offering an ad-free version for a higher proce, but for some reason, they refuse to do so. I’m guessing that their reasons generally have to do with a combination of selfishness and laziness.

In any case, I have joined active boycotts of developers who do this, although I am not under any illusion about the overall effectiveness of such boycotts.

Other people might decide that they want to pay the developers’ fees for such apps and then just use ad-blocking software until (or unless) a higher-priced, ad-free version is offered.

I don’t do that, and I just prefer to trash those apps and make as public a protest as possible about them. However, I sympathize with people who opt for ad blockers in this case.
nerd

Why are people saying such mean things against this great program? I love it, i rooted my phone and now i use it, but hopefully it can work on non-rooted phones someday too. I can’t stand seeing ads. Nobody should be subjected to something they don’t like against their will! Especially on something they paid for

So much good will come from this app!! No wasted data bandwidth when using programs because they need to download that ad! No accidental clicks that bring you to a lame website right in the middle of doing something important! Also, who does wilfully click on those ads, i mean HONESTLY??

Ads make things seem cheap and now its good they are gone with the help of this program. The best thing about this is that all the ads are gone in ALL the programs you have, for free, and if they ever show up again! But if they do, it’s just a matter of getting the latest block list hosts file.

I’m sure folks out there who love to be fed ads, but i’m not one of them. I can’t stand using any program if it has ads, its too invasive.

I feel sorry for the folks who have that ‘modern-day-mentality’ of “not viewing ads ruins it for everyone”. That is the line the ad makers want those people to spew.

Look at it this way: if company a and company b offer news, company a decides to make it pay only or view ads, but company b continues to offer it for free, you can bet company b will get the most readers.

In other words, there’s no need to worry, lots of folks will continue to make free apps
BF

If you want verizon and motorola taking over YOUR devices , that’s fine with me OTHERWISE KEEP YOU CRAP OFF MY PHONE FOOLS !! I can’t believe you really want us all to tolerate all this crap for YOU !! So many Obama idiots on one website , hard to believe. I want to root my phone what is a good website to do so droid x THAT I BOUGHT WITH ZERO SUBSIDY..IT’S MINE NOT THE DAMNED ADVERTISER WHO ARE DISGRACING THEMSELVES BY BEGGING SO MUCH! nor IS IT YOURS TO FORCE ADS ONTO MY PHONE FOR YOUR OBAMA SUBSIDIZED TOYS, BEGGARS on welfare toO NO DOUBT ??!A GENERATION OF :ME: !YOU GET ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAISE THEM, I WILL NOT I’LL PAY MY OWN WAY

Guest

. . . . . . . . . . What?

With

Not sure what BF is on about , Think he must be from USA , visiting soon , hope to god you all dont speak like that …but YES I agree with his weird way of saying thing ! IT’s MINE …NO AD’s
http://www.xipco.com/rss.php?cityId=69&PHPSESSID=6101256456638e46d7a369694a772821 No matter where you are and who you are,if you are not using this internet website,you are losing out 50% of the word wide web.

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Ycare

Yeah, SELL all the AD supported apps you want BUT DON’T LOAD DOWN MY PHONE WITH A BUCKET FULL OF CRAPWARE THAT I CAN’T REMOVE WITHOUT HOURS OF WORK…THAT IS THE AD FREE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT !! So get over yourselves, really, we don’t need you no matter how much you whine!
LC

Void your warranty to get rid of ads by rooting your phone. I agree its your phone but, its not your app…Devlopers put out tons of great apps for free and the only way to keep it free for every one is to let ad companies foot the bill for the Developers hard work. All apps like this are going to do is force Developers to stop making free apps and charge you directly for there work…I do agree that some ads are annoying and Developers should really be selective on the types of ads the choose…Trust me look at any dev forums about Admob and other ad companies and you’ll see Devlopers complaining about not get enough money even with the ads they dont make a whole lot unless your Angry Birds status…to make a long story short your real blaim isn’t the Developers its your carrier and google..

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